WELLINGTON CITY OBSERVATORY.

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 149, 26 June 1931, Page 3

WELLINGTON CITY OBSERVATORY.

■ A 'very' interesting- evening was spent by visitors to the Wellington City Observatory last Saturday night, when many stellar ._ objects were examined. Saturn, which is now coming, into a more" favourable position, for observation, was seen quite, clearly through the telescope to consist of a ' planet surrounded by beautiful rings. These rings, it was explained, were really numbers of minute satellites circling around Saturn,'but they were packed so closely together that to us on the earth they appeared as continuous rings. Saturn itself was a large -body, being some nine or ten times the size of. the earth. Strange to say the density of Saturn is less than water, so that if a large enough ocean were found, Saturn would > float. Besides the rings, three little moons were seen near the planet. After the session for visitors a photograph, was taken of the Jewel Casket, and this will be displayed to-morrow night, when the observatory will be again open to visitors. In order to carry _ out the large programme to-morrow night the observatory wijrbe opening at 7 o'clock, and the film will be shown between 7 p.m. and 7.30 p.m., so as to leave sufficient time to observe the interesting details on the moon ■for'the remainder of the evening.

The observatory is situated in the Botanical Gardens, and is accessible by means of the Kelburn cable car. A small charge is made for admission.